At that point a rare but pleasantly delicate moment was shared by the mother and the daughter. After walking down a few steps Mita ran back up and said, “Oh, I almost forgot!” She picked up the roses from the antique table and then said, “Keka, my daughter, see Rana brought these lovely roses. Please arrange them in the vase on your table.”
While handing the flowers to her, the mother and daughter looked at each other and smiled. Keka blushed because her beau brought the flowers for her and her mother accepted them on her behalf; what a shame! Rana admired at the ease with which Mita handled the matter. In most such cases during that era a mother would say, “What a shameless show of love!” But Mita was very understanding and measured in her words. She did not say, “Rana brought these lovely roses for you,” but merely said, “Rana brought these lovely roses.” However, by asking her to arrange the roses in her vase, she made it amply clear that she knew that they were intended for her daughter. Anyone could understand that Rana took the roses for Keka and not for her mother.
On reaching the third floor, Keka heaved a sigh of relief, saying, “My mum and grandpa love to give me surprises.”
Rana did not want to be seen by Keka as a link in that plot to embarrass her. He said, “Is that right? You mean to say you were not told that I would be here this evening?
Keka said, “My mum only told me that you would call me this evening because I missed your call on the last occasion.”
Rana said, “How strange!” After a pause he said, “Keka, here you have got someone else also who loves to give surprises. Then you must be happy that your life would be full of surprises.”
Keka smiled and said, “Then I will also start giving surprises to everyone.”
Rana asked, “But Keka, please tell me why you heaved a sigh of relief when you came up? It seems you were very worried before and kind of relieved now.”
Keka said, “I told you that my grandpa’s opinion carries so much weight that when he is convinced, the rest is easy. It is not difficult to please him. Yet until his opinion is known, one can’t be certain.”
Rana said, “Yes, I cannot agree with you more.”
Keka asked him, “How did you find my grandpa?”
Rana answered, “Very understanding, supportive and friendly. All that is needed to keep him happy is to listen to what he says and what he says is reasonable.”
Keka was delighted to hear those remarks about her grandpa. She then asked, “What do you think of my mother?”
Rana said, “She is simple, affable, loving, helpful and delighted to see her dreams coming to fruition through her daughter. She wants her daughter to live her life the contemporary way because she did not have that opportunity.”
Keka leapt up in excitement. She said, “My mother keeps telling me that all the time.” She continued to say, “You can read people’s character very well.”
While talking to him Keka picked up the flower vase on her table to throw away the half withered flowers in it to make room for the new flowers that Rana brought.
Rana said, “Let me help you with that.” He took the roses from her hand. She changed the water of the vase. Rana took out the pocket knife from his key pouch and cut the stems to size them up to fit into the vase. Finally, he placed the bunch of flowers in and spread them evenly and handed the vase over to Keka, saying, “I hope you like the arrangement.”
Keka said, “Many thanks for the roses. They are gorgeous.”
Rana said, “Pleasure is mine.”
Keka said further, “And I can see that your flower arrangement is as good as my mum’s.”
Rana replied, “Good or bad I don’t know, but I can do little bit of everything. And if I may add, the most important of all is that you do not have to worry about anything.”
Keka said, “It is good to know that I am so lucky.”
Coming back to her room Keka kept the vase on her desk. Rana asked for her hand. She obliged. Rana held her hand and kissed the back of her palm. All these happened in a flash, but spontaneously. Both of them blushed, but both were happy probably because several milestones were reached during the course of that evening.
At eight, they went down to the dining room. Ramnath was already there. Dinner was sumptuous. Food was cooked by Mita herself. Though the cook was there, Mita took special care to pamper Rana, having invited him in the first place. The cook helped her by putting together the ingredients. At the dinner table most of the talking was done by Ramnath. He became nostalgic while telling Rana about his childhood and boyhood, his education, his marriage and his joining the legal profession. He also talked in details about his wife who had passed away a few years earlier. He did not forget to talk about Sudhir, Mita and Keka also.
As they moved from the dinner table to the drawing room, the discussion also spilled over there. Finally, Ramnath invited Rana again on the next Friday to meet with Keka’s father and have dinner with them. It was getting late for Rana. He politely took leave of Ramnath. Mita thanked him for coming and listening to her father-in-law so patiently. She was apologetic supposedly for not paying more attention to him. Rana said he did not feel any lack of attention and, in fact, enjoyed the evening. He also added that he was looking forward to the next week. He then bade goodbye to the two women and drove away slowly. Rana felt thankful to God for the development of the evening. He thought it was kind of revolutionary in the context of time. He knew, had Keka belonged to any other family, he would not be allowed entry into the grandfather’s house, much less invited. He marveled at the changing face of the society and felt great for being a pioneering agent of that change.
Next Thursday the university announced the results of his exam and there were no surprises for Rana. He obtained an Honors Degree in Economics. The friends and family were delighted. Rana called Keka to inform her. She was overjoyed. She did not know what to do and ended up calling her mother Mita. She said they were going to celebrate when he would visit with them.
As scheduled, on Friday Rana went to the residence of Keka’s grandfather Ramnath to meet with her father Sudhir. This time Keka came down to usher him to the family room upstairs. So he did not have any dilemma who to give the bouquet of brilliant red roses this time. Keka seemed to be in a bubbling spirit. While walking up the stairs she hurriedly said that there were discussions about him between her parents and grandparent and it was all positive. She also said that her father was looking forward to seeing him.
Attorney Ramnath was seated on his familiar easy chair, browsing through the newspaper of the day. Seeing Rana with Keka, he got up from the chair and congratulated him warmly for his graduation. At the same breath, he asked Keka to call her parents. Her father Sudhir came shortly, followed by her mother Mita. Ramnath again rose from his seat and said, “Rana, let me introduce you to my son Sudhir. Like you, he also graduated from the St. Xavier’s College. He then went to London to be a Barrister before starting his law practice with me.”
While Ramnath was talking, Sudhir was wearing a broad smile. He was in his early forties, but looked ten years younger. As soon as Ramnath concluded his introduction, Sudhir said, “Rana, I am really very pleased to meet with you. In the last few weeks, I have been hearing a lot about you. It appears you have many admirers in this house. You must be something special. I have been trying to win over my father for more than forty years and my wife for twenty years, but without any success so far. However, you have won them over literally in minutes. May I know the secret of your success please?”
Rana could easily make out that Sudhir was as smooth as silk like a seasoned attorney and at that moment he was trying to make him comfortable. Judging the light mood around, Rana responded, “They are very simple people. It was easy to impress upon them. But my real test will follow this discussion as to how soon I am able to win you over.”
Everyone laughed and Sudhir responded, “You have already won me many times over. If I say otherwise, I would invite big trouble from my father, my wife and my daughter.”
Again there was a big roar of laughter. Sudhir seemed to be a delightful person, very polished, friendly and easy going.
Just at that moment, an important client of Ramnath called to have a hurried consultation. Both Ramnath and Sudhir excused themselves to go down to their office on the first floor to access the files for consultation with their client. That opened up the opportunity for Rana to talk to Mita and Keka.
Mita congratulated him once again and said, “We are all very happy on your success at the exam. Especially, Keka’s grandfather said that it was very creditable to earn Honors in Economics. Only a handful of students managed to get it every year. Though Keka’s father did not see you before, he already has a high opinion about you.”
Rana said, “Many thanks to you all. I tried hard and God is gracious on me.”
Mita said, “God is gracious on everybody, but not everyone gets Honors in Economics. Credit must go to you for your extra-ordinary effort.”
She then addressed both Keka and Rana jointly, “One other thing I wanted to tell you both before they come back. I understand fully well that you need to see each other. However, given the fact that both of you are still students, it would not be appropriate to meet more than once a week. Of course, meetings on special events and celebrations are extra. You decide, between the two of you what day of the week is convenient for you. Needless to say, you can talk over telephone everyday.”
Saying these she rose to go to the kitchen to supervise the preparation of the special dinner. Perhaps she wanted to give them some time to talk between themselves. The young lovebirds were delighted to have those few minutes to themselves. They decided that Friday evenings would be most appropriate for their meetings. In about an hour, Mita came back to say that they should go to the dining room in fifteen minutes. She added that Ramnath and Sudhir were still tied up but would join them at the dinner table.
At the dinner table Sudhir asked him, “Now that you are a graduate, have you decided what you are going to do?”
Rana replied, “I am going to apply to the Indian Institute of Management to join their Business Management course. However, I will also keep my options open in case I get an offer from a reputable company for an Executive Trainee position.”
The table conversation kept on switching from topic to topic, from sports to politics to world affairs. Rana could not figure out if that was deliberate to test his range of interest in life. At the end, however, the old man said he was impressed at the whole gamut of his knowledge in a wide variety of subjects.
The evening came to an end. It was a good getting-to-know each other event. Rana felt abundantly satisfied for two reasons. Firstly, he was able to plant confidence in all the senior members of Keka’s family whose opinion counted in so far as her future was concerned. Secondly, he found an approved way of courting Keka. This may sound ludicrous today. But in the early sixties of the twentieth century the arrangement was kind of revolutionary in that part of the world. He considered himself very lucky to be a harbinger of change. He also felt God’s invisible hand in making his path to courtship with Keka a virtual cake-walk and shorn off daily parental intervention. He couldn’t help saying a word of prayer for that rather easy sail.
Courtship is but a privileged relationship of intimate nature in the context of the narrow confines of love. In most of the cases, serious courtship leads to marriage and marriage to the growth of mankind and, as such, courtship is the most potent force driving the destiny of the River of Life. Quality courtship leads to quality marriage, quality happiness and quality offspring. Keka and Rana were looking forward to what their courtship would bring to them now that it was blessed by the most important members of their families.
COURTSHIP
Time goes on and the River of Life flows on. Hopes and dreams induce vigor and drive to the River of Life and keep it in a ceaseless flux. When the hope is in ecstatic exuberance and the dream is only a tryst with the moon, the River of Life is rejuvenated by leaps and bounds. The excessive torrent of creative juice swells up the River of Life to the brink of its banks and propels it to its imponderable destiny. When the hope is humdrum and the dream is run-of-the-mill, the River of Life loses its steam in lethargy and torpor and becomes uninspired, slender and slim until it is revamped by the vibrant hopes and dreams once again. This is the crux of the rise and fall of civilizations and dynasties. And this, in essence, is the tide and ebb of the River of Life.
Keka and Rana’s hopes and dreams were on the upsurge and they were flowing on the swelling river of emotions and expectations. The first unsupervised romantic foray would begin from the Friday next. Rana was little meticulous in choosing the venue of the first rendezvous. He knew that one does not get a second chance to make the first impression. From his previous encounters with Keka he had cleverly squeezed out of her without her realizing it, what places she liked to visit, what kind of food whetted her appetite and what type of entertainment delighted her most. Accordingly, on the first day he chose to take Keka to the strand which was a mile long riverfront on the River Ganges neatly maintained by the Port Trust. It had a couple of good restaurants, a few nice kiosks and an ice-cream parlor. It also had a boating facility on the River Ganges. He thought that was one of the better places in town for the young lovers seeking romance.
Good luck would have it, Rana’s choice of venue proved to be right on the nail. The first question that Keka asked on entering the car was, “Where are we going?”
Rana answered, “I guess you will like the place.”
Keka insisted, “I am curious.”
Rana said, “We are going to the strand.”
Keka said seemingly pleased, “I knew you could read peoples’ minds. That is exactly where I wanted to go today.”
Rana said, “If I don’t try to read your mind, how shall I make you happy?”
She chuckled delightfully to indicate she liked what he said, but doubted his stated intentions.
Keka and Rana were pretty early for the evening crowd swarming the restaurant. Rana was happy for he planned the timing to beat the traffic. So they got a table just above the river with a spectacular view. That was an ideal concomitant to the bubbling romance. The waiter brought the menu. The food appeared to be salacious. They chose fish fry, chicken tenders, salad and ice-cream. The orders were placed quickly so that there were fewer interruptions once the dialogues began.
Before Rana proceeded further, Keka asked, “How should I address you?”
It might sound silly today, but he was not surprised at all then. For thousands of years society in that part of the world treated women as subordinate to men. This in social terms meant that women virtually had no decision making authority on anything concerning the family, the society or even their own selves. Being subservient meant they did not have any voice, their opinion had no value. In plain words, men and women were of unequal status. Translated into social practice, they crystallized into master-slave relationship. Women who would challenge the authority of men would be social outcasts. Being outcasts did not necessarily carry with it any physical punishment, but mental torture hard enough to culminate in suicide. This unequal status would dictate that women could not address their husbands by name for that would tantamount to showing disrespect. Accordingly, the custom was for the wives to draw the attention of their husbands by using expressions like, “Would you listen to me?” or, “Could I say something?” or, some such equivalent words.
Though Rana was not expecting that innocent question from Keka, a city-bred, school educated young woman, he was not entirely surprised by it either, for tradition and old habits die hard. However, to keep their relationship as equal as possible, he also answered innocently as if he did not know the reason behind the question, “Why? My name is Rana; so you will call me Rana.”
Keka began swaying her head from side to side and said rather shyly, “No, that can’t happen. My mother does not call my father by his name.”
Rana responded dis
creetly, “May not be so. Neither does Devika call her husband by his name. But those are the anachronism of the past. The wind of change is blowing. The society must respond to that.”
Keka still kept on shaking her head unconvincingly. In fact, Keka’s unconvincing state of mind was the reality check everywhere on this beautiful earth. Slavery or mastery is a state of mind in the context of time. In reality, the mental servitude or the arrogance of perceived ownership cannot be swept aside by a simple statement or jargon. Slavery cannot be abolished just by the stroke of a pen or proclamation on emancipation. A paradigm shift is possible only when the entire society rallies round a just cause. Otherwise, the Civil Rights Movement was not necessary hundred years after the official abolition of slavery by way of the most defining law in the history of mankind.
Be that as it may, realizing that it would be futile to convince Keka at that moment, Rana said in an encouraging manner, “Okay, you start calling me Rana effective immediately. If anyone takes exception, just say that I have asked you to call me by my name. If they bother you further, tell them very politely to talk to me. Or, else, you tell them, you stand the risk of offending me. Just put the blame squarely on me. I trust you will be able to do that.”
Keka neither said ‘yes’ nor ‘no’ but kept on smiling all the while. Perhaps she was not sure if Rana was serious or making light of the situation.
To mark the end of that discussion, the waiter served the food. It was delicious. While eating, they talked about everything under the sun, beginning with Keka’s story about the impression that Rana created on her family. There was no way Darjeeling would escape their discussion still being so fresh in their memory. Keka also mentioned that her classmates saw her pictures taken in Darjeeling, especially, her photos with him. She said that her romance with him created a stir among her classmates and they would be waiting impatiently to hear her accounts of that evening.
A Bend in the River of Life Page 9
